From Kendrick to Rick Ross, Drake’s acquired lots of enemies

To borrow a phrase from our foremost cultural observer, Azealia Banks, the boys are combating.

Because the explosive drop of producer Metro Boomin and rapper Future’s first joint album, We Don’t Belief You, on March 22, a chilly conflict has damaged out involving the duo and the remainder of hip-hop’s top-tier (male) millennial roster: Drake, J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, and A$AP Rocky. It’s been a wierd few weeks, with pictures being thrown in an especially public and more and more amusing method. In an completely baffling transfer, Cole made a public apology for his personal diss observe, bowing out of the meat early. In the meantime, like all argument you would possibly see amongst a bunch of wealthy girls on Bravo, Drake is being placed on blast for his rumored cosmetic surgery. (Thanks, Megan Thee Stallion.)

This isn’t the primary time this specific group of A-listers — all of whom dominated the mainstream rap charts of the 2010s — have exchanged lyrical blows. Specifically, Drake and Lamar have sneak-dissed one another for some time now. Nonetheless, to the common music listener, all these males have a extra well-known historical past of collaboration, together with options, a joint album, and tour stops. Lamar’s fiery verse, nevertheless, on the We Don’t Belief You observe “Like That,” has shattered any remaining semblance of camaraderie. Within the weeks since, Future and Metro have launched one more rage-fueled album, hilariously titled We Nonetheless Don’t Belief You. And Drake lastly — if not clunkily — launched his personal sprawling diss over the weekend, name-dropping everybody from SZA to Maroon 5 to Swifties. Did I point out Uma Thurman can be concerned?

After practically 15 tumultuous years within the recreation, it’s no shock that Drake has as soon as once more discovered himself on the receiving finish of some hate. Nonetheless, this newest beef could possibly be precisely what rap’s delicate king wants in a somewhat uninspired period in his profession, outlined by a somewhat uninteresting musical output and gross jabs at girls.

Who’s beefing with who?

Johnny Nunez/Getty Pictures for the Recording Academy

A number of weeks in the past, Future and Metro basically launched a breakup album from their frequent collaborator and former comrade, Drake. (Drake and Future have practically 30 collaborations mixed, and Metro executive-produced their 2015 mixtape What A Time to Be Alive.) We Don’t Belief You is filled with subliminal messages seemingly directed at Drake, relating to his shady maneuvers. Nonetheless, it was Kendrick’s comparatively light prodding on the observe “Like That” that was finally essentially the most incendiary.

On the observe — which has sat at No. 1 on the Billboard Scorching 100 for 3 weeks in a row now — he raps “Motherfuck the massive three, it’s simply massive me,” renouncing his casual affiliation with rap friends Drake and Cole. On the latest Drake music “First Particular person Shooter,” off his newest album For All of the Canines, Cole claimed on his visitor verse that he, Drake, and Lamar are the “Massive 3” of the present period of hip-hop. However, Lamar’s ire on “Like That” is generally pointed at his famous frenemy Drake, disregarding his purportedly unstoppable business success. “Your finest work is a light-weight pack,” he asserts. “N—, Prince outlived Mike Jack.”

Cole responded first on April 5 with the observe “7-Minute Drill,” featured on his aptly titled mixtape May Delete Later. Cole throws pictures at Lamar’s Pulitzer Prize-winning discography, calling his newest album Mr. Morale and The Massive Steppers “tragic” and claiming his Grammy-winning sophomore album Good Child, Maad Metropolis “put [listeners] to sleep.” He additionally guarantees to “humble” Lamar if “push involves shove.”

Nonetheless, by April 10, Cole had rescinded his warning shot, together with eradicating “7-Minute Drill” from streaming platforms. At his annual Dreamville Pageant, he issued a closely mocked quasi-apology to Lamar. “I attempted to jab [Lamar] again, and I attempt to hold it pleasant,” he instructed the gang in North Carolina. “However on the finish of the day once I take heed to it, and when it comes out and I see the discuss, that don’t sit proper with my spirit.”

Earlier than Drake might unleash his personal diss, Future and Metro launched the follow-up, We Nonetheless Don’t Belief You, on April 12. This time, A$AP Rocky acquired some punches in. On the music “Present of Fingers,” he rapped “N—s in they emotions over girls. What, you damage or one thing? I smash earlier than you birthed, son. Flacko hit it first, son.” That is presumably a response to Drake apparently dissing A$AP and his associate Rihanna, whom Drake beforehand dated, on his music “Worry of Heights.” (Followers have additionally speculated that A$AP means he beforehand slept with the mom of Drake’s son.)

One other considered one of Drake’s most well-known business mates, The Weeknd, seems on each Future and Metro albums. Nonetheless, on We Nonetheless Don’t Belief You’s eighth observe, “All to Myself,” he sings, “I thank God that I by no means signed my life away.” Followers interpreted that as a jab about Drake’s label OVO Sound, which, regardless of his heavy affiliation with the label, The Weeknd finally by no means signed to.

Who’s Drake dissing on “Push Ups”?

On Saturday, April 13, Drake’s long-awaited response titled “Push Ups (Drop & Give Me Fifty)” mysteriously made its strategy to the web. The seemingly unmixed demo made many social media customers speculate whether or not the music was AI-generated earlier than famous hip-hop commentator DJ Akademiks finally performed it — noticeably with some tweaks, just like the omission of a line about P. Diddy and a unique beat — on his livestream. Hip-hop radio station Energy 105 additionally streamed a high-quality model of the music. Given Drake’s feedback on Instagram over the weekend, together with a photograph of Uma Thurman single-handedly taking up a bunch of fighters within the 2003 movie Kill Invoice, all indicators level to the observe being professional.

That stated, “Push Ups” is a hefty (and expectedly humorous) diss report, taking intention at Drake’s aforementioned opps whereas pulling another events into the crossfire. Considered one of them is the Weeknd’s supervisor, CashXO, who he accuses of “blowing Abel’s bread trickin.” He additionally takes pictures at Memphis Grizzlies participant Ja Morant, who followers are speculating he was beforehand in a love triangle with.

In in all probability the silliest improvement of this multi-pronged feud, he throws some digs at rapper Rick Ross, one other frequent collaborator of his. “This n— turning 50,” Drake raps. “Each music that made it on the chart he acquired it from Drizzy.” Ross swiftly adopted up along with his personal diss referred to as “Champagne Moments,” which rapidly went viral. Amongst different insults and accusations, he calls Drake, who’s combined, “white boy” and claims he acquired a nostril job.

Johnny Nunez/WireImage

As for Lamar, Drake provides a fairly complete rebuttal, poking enjoyable at Lamar for apparently carrying a “dimension 7 shoe” and his collaborations with pop acts like Maroon 5 and Taylor Swift’s “Unhealthy Blood.” (Lest we neglect, Drake has additionally linked up with Swift for a examine.) He additionally names some artists who he feels have surpassed Lamar’s stardom, together with SZA, who’s signed to Lamar’s personal Prime Dawg Leisure label. (She apparently doesn’t wish to be concerned.) There’s additionally a bar that many listeners, together with DJ Akademiks, interpreted as an audacious point out of Lamar’s fiancé, Whitney Alford (“I be with some bodyguards like Whitney”). Nonetheless, this may be a misreading of a extra apparent reference to the Whitney Houston movie, The Bodyguard.

The business could also be in opposition to him, however Drake has all the time thrived in a beef

“Push Ups” apart, Drake has dealt with his public gang-up with an anticipated humorousness and irreverence. Along with an trade with Uma Thurman, he shared a perplexed textual content message from his mom, Sandi Graham, inquiring about his alleged beauty surgical procedures on his Instagram Tales. He’s additionally used the platform to additional troll Metro, who he instructed to “shut up and make some drums” on “Push Ups,” within the following days.

As anybody who’s even barely adopted rap over the previous decade and a half can attest, this isn’t Drake’s first time partaking in warfare along with his friends. Most famously, his profession has seen headline-generating battles with Meek Mill, Pusha T, Joe Budden, and Kanye West. Arguably, his most notorious tiff was the fruits of a long-brewing beef with Pusha T in 2018, the place the Virginia rapper uncovered Drake’s previously hidden son, Adonis, to the world.

Regardless of the transient second of humiliation, Drake finally emerged the victor — that’s, in the event you’re utilizing chart numbers and basic reputation as a figuring out metric. After his reasonably acquired victory lap of an album, Views, he was given a extra gripping narrative to gas his blockbuster 2018 album Scorpion. On the similar time, he was as soon as once more proving his mass enchantment outdoors of the rap audiences with get together bangers like “God’s Plan,” “Good For What,” and “In My Emotions,” all of which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Scorching 100.

Extra not too long ago, nevertheless, Drake has been concerned in a number of seemingly one-sided beefs with well-known girls. On his 2023 music with 21 Savage, “Circo Loco,” he threw out a not-so-subtle diss at rapper Megan Thee Stallion (“This bitch lie ’bout getting pictures however she nonetheless a stallion”), becoming a member of a refrain of well-known males disputing her now-proven claims that singer Tory Lanez shot her within the foot in 2020.

Through the rollout of For All of the Canines, he vexed actor Halle Berry, who claimed he used a photograph of her for the art work for his single “Slime You Out” with out her permission. Moreover, he’s tried to reignite drama along with his former fling Rihanna. Except for his digs on “Worry of Heights,” he performed their collaboration “Work” at considered one of his concert events simply to assert that he “doesn’t sing [the] music anymore.”

Drake’s songwriting is usually propelled by a sweeping sense of grievance and an obsession with the previous and his haters (he’s not that totally different from Taylor Swift in any case!). Nonetheless, his fixed emotions of victimhood inside his relationships with girls — and the next, extra blatant misogyny that’s grown out of that — has begun to put on on critics and elements of his feminine fanbase. That stated, his appropriately savage (but humorous) dealing with of his newest assault feels paying homage to a extra palatable, forgone iteration of Drake. Watching him navigate the fixed betrayals and routine pitfalls that include fame has been the premise for his extra compelling work, like his breakthrough 2015 mixtape If You’re Studying This It’s Too Late, his 2017 mixtape Extra Life, and the extra melancholic elements of Scorpion.

It’s unclear when or if Lamar will reply to “Push Ups.” Within the meantime, Kanye West previewed his personal remix to “Like That” on the web present The Obtain on April 20. And later that day, a full model of the music, together with some jabs at Cole, mysteriously appeared on-line. Moreover, over this previous weekend, Drake launched one other diss observe for Lamar referred to as “Taylor Made Freestyle” utilizing AI-generated vocals from 2Pac and Snoop Dogg to “spit” on his behalf. Therefore the title, he calls Taylor Swift Lamar’s “new prime” and seemingly blames his delayed response on the discharge of her newest album The Tortured Poets Division.

Drake’s weaponization of synthetic intelligence has generated combined responses on-line. Some followers are amused by his “innovation,” whereas others together with Snoop, appear downright confused. After all, the appropriation of the deceased Tupac Shakur has resurfaced preexisting moral considerations about AI within the music business. Debates apart, it looks as if Drake is excelling at what he does finest — holding the web on its toes. Proper now, Drake could also be outnumbered, however as he typically does, he’s nonetheless discovering a strategy to take the W.

Replace, April 22, 1:30 pm: This story, initially revealed April 17, has been up to date with new music releases and responses.